Introductions

As all eyes fell on him, Artorias just stood there...motionless.

'Time to introduce myself, remember...with grace and elegance. First impression is always the most important aspect.' by this, he bowed towards the group before standing back at his full height. "My name is Knight Artorias the Abysswalker, it is unfortunate we could not meet under better circumstances. Just call me Artorias or Knight Artorias or whichever do you feel like." he said with a confident tone.

All of the ponies, including the princesses were eyeing him curiously especially Twilight. None of them said a word until...

"Drop your weapons creature!" a masculine voice boomed.

'Damn!' he cursed mentally.

When he turned around , Artorias saw a squad consisting of six royal guards: two pegasi, a large muscular earth pony, and three unicorns-ready to attack him. Artorias recognized them as the squad he saved earlier on his way to the castle.

"Stand down, or we will resort to force!" barked the earth pony.

'Must be the squad leader, but when I rescued him from those Changelings he didn't seem to be the courageous type.'

At this , his grip on his talisman grew tighter...ready to fire. " I didn't come here to fight, but I will defend myself if necessary." he said in a stern voice.

Tension started building in the air as neither sides were willing to give up, but before either sides could do anything a thundering voice boomed.

"STAND DOWN! ALL OF YOU!" Princess Celestia boomed using her royal Canterlot voice. This startled everypony in the room (excluding Artorias), as they never heard the princess spoke in that manner before. Hearing this, the guards immediately saluted and stand their grounds without taking their eyes off Artorias.

After a moment of silence, Princess Celestia started walking towards the squad. As she got nearer, they knelt before her "You may rise my little ponies." she said in a motherly tone. Then she turned her eyes to the earth pony " Captain Shatterstorm, I appreciate your concern for our security. But Knight Artorias here meant no harm to us. Even he just saved all of us and all of Equestria from certain doom." she said while keeping her poker face.

"Forgive us your majesty, we didn't know." the captain said while bowing respectfully.

"It is okay captain, but I'd appreciate if you treat him with respect and dignity next time." and turned to Artorias who immediately knelt before her.

"Your majesty..." he said in respect.

Celestia smiled softly "Rise, Sir Artorias." She was a bit uneased by his size even for Celestia herself Artorias towered above her by two heads.

"Forgive me for the hostility Sir Artorias, let me introduce myself. My name is Princess Celestia, the co-ruler of Equestria."

'co-ruler? so, there are two rulers here?' he thought, but decided to question it later.

"It is understandable your majesty, probably because you haven't seen any of my kind before. Oh, and I am terribly sorry about the door. I will fix it soon, I promise." Artorias said politely while glancing at the remains of the door.

" Sir Artorias, there is no need to be sorry for the door if you didn't come, all will be lost now." she said softly "Besides, our magic can replace that door in no time. And please, call me Celestia. I am not into formalities that much." she chuckled. "And that is true, we have never seen any of your kind before. Even after thousands of years, none of us know of your kind's existence."

" Oh really? then I am the first of my kind to arrive here." Artorias said matter-of-factly

''And maybe the last one...'' he said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Princess Celestia asked.

"Oh, nothing your high- *ahem* Celestia."

The solar diarch, eyed him suspiciously before she shrugging it off.

"But, I do have one question." by this, her mood changed into a grim expression. "Why do you have to kill those Changelings?" then, the room fell into a deep silence.

Artorias sighed, " I have tried to negotiate with them, but unfortunately..." he paused "negotiations were not possible, so I was forced to kill them before they could harm anybody else. Besides, it is my duty to protect the innocent and make the world a better place to live in."

Satisfied by his answer, the solar diarch nodded and gave him a warm smile.

Then, Princess Cadance trotted next to her (much to Shining Armor's dismay, but after Cadance talked to him he finally relents). Seeing this, Artorias knelt before her. The princess slightly chuckled at this.

"Please Sir Artorias, there is no need for formalities ." She chuckled " I believe, I speak for all of us when I say; thank you for saving not only my wedding but also all of us and all of Canterlot."

Artorias smiled underneath his helm " I am just doing my duty your majes-"

"Please, call me Cadance. Only officials call me Princess. " she smiled.

Artorias nodded politely "And please, call me Artorias" he said while looking at everypony in the wedding hall, getting small smiles from the ponies.

" Um, excuse me... Sir- *ahem* Artorias." Twilight trotted up next to him.

"Yes? how can I help you Ms-?"

" Twilight Sparkle" she said while extending her right hoof,smiling "Princess Celestia's personal student." Artorias, smiling underneath his helmet then took her hoof with his right hand and gave it a gentle but firm shake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Sparkle, it must be a big honor to become her majesty's- *ahem* Celestia's personal student." Twilight blushed at this.

Next, Spike came up running towards Twilight "Twilight! you are okay!" he said while hugging the purple unicorn.

"Woah! who is this Twilight?" he said while looking at Artorias.

Before Twilight could respond to his question Artorias bowed and extended his right hand, "My name is Knight Artorias the Abysswalker, and you are?"

"Wow! that's cool! I am Spike, Twilight's number one assistant." he said proudly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Spike.You know , this is my first experience talking to a dragon." he said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean? there are no dragons in your world?" Spike asked.

"Well, it's just that dragons in my world can't talk...and their hostility is out of the question." he replied.

" Oooh I see. So, where did you come from?" he asked again.

Just as he began to move his mouth to reply, the rest of the main six huddled to him...introducing themselves.

The first one, no doubt is Pinkie Pie immediately jumped on top of Artorias and gave him a bonecrushing hug.

'She is pretty damn strong compared to her size!' Artorias thought before tapping the party pony on her shoulder.

"Excuse me miss, I can't breathe!" he said, panting. Pinkie released him, then...

"*gasp* thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! My name is Pinkie Pie! And I am going to throw you the best welcome party ever!" she said in a rapid succession.

Artorias just sit there, trying to digest the stream of words that were thrown at him.

'So, her name is Pinkie Pie. And she wanted to throw me a party?'

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Pie." he extended his right arm to Pinkie which immediately shook. And after that, she zapped out of the room.

Just as when Artorias tried to ask,

"Don't worry, she is just being Pinkie Pie." Twilight said with a sheepish grin.

Artorias nodded...when suddenly, a burning pain engulfed his left arm.

"AARGH!" he screamed while clutching his left arm.

" Quickly, get a medic!" Shining Armor barked to a royal guard while he ran towards Artorias . This caused everypony to huddle at Artorias, trying to help him.

He immediately took his left-hand gauntlet off, and saw that the wound is still blistering and burning through his flesh. This made the ponies winced a bit due to the grotesque wound.

'Dark magic, of course.' he quickly grabbed his talisman and activating a healing spell that caused runes to circle over the wound. And in the next instant the wound was no longer there.

Everypony watched this with their mouths agape, even the princesses themselves.

"You are full of surprises aren't you Artorias." Shining Armor said.

Artorias smirked, "Heh, you have seen nothing yet." he said while panting heavily.

Shining Armor took the initiative and giving his hoof at Artorias, which he shook firmly " Forgive me for my rudeness, I am Shining Armor, Twilight's big brother and captain of the royal guard." he said proudly "and soon..." he glanced at Princess Cadance, and winked playfully at her which she returned "Princess Cadance's husband."

"Ah, it's a pleasure captain."

"No, it is my honor to shake hands with the hero who not only saved my wedding but all of Equestria as well."

"I am just doing my duty."

With that, Shining nodded.

The next pony to step in line was Rarity, who was smiling and eyeing him from head to toe for some reason.

Artorias, feeling awkward at the situation decided to speak first "Hello there miss, may I know your name?"

'Based on the way she is looking at me, I think she is some kind of fashion designer.' he thought.

" My name is Rarity." she said in an elegant tone "A pleasure to meet you darling."

Surprisingly, it was Rarity who extended her right hoof. Artorias took her hoof and shook it.

"Tell me darling, is this your skin?" she said while poking at his breastplate.

Artorias chuckled "No Miss Rarity, this is my armor."

"Did you do all of these grooves and carvings by yourself ?" she asked while examining the texture of his armor.

"Yes, in fact I forged this by myself." he said

"Darling, this is just fabulous! with that azure blue cape and scarf this is just...magnificent!" she paused and flicked her elegantly curled mane.

"You and I are going to get along just fine darling."

"Thank you Miss Rarity, I do hope we can get acquainted better soon." he smiled underneath his helmet.

"Now if you excuse me, I've got to prepare the real Princess Cadance's wedding dress. I'll see you around Artorias."

Artorias nodded politely.

'The real Cadance? what in Gwyn's name happened before I got here?'

The next pony who walked up to him was Applejack.

"Howdy' , mah name's Applejack. Nice to meet ya partner." She said while extending her right foreleg , which Artorias took and shook.

"It's nice to meet you too, Miss Applejack. Strong legs, I like it." he said after noticing Applejack's strength.

" Thank ya' kindly Artorias, that's what ya' get from buckin' apple trees fer years." she said proudly.

'Bucking apple trees? like kicking them? ' he thought.

"Now if you excuse me, I've gotta bake more of them cakes and cookies."

Artorias nodded politely.

The next pony to step in line was Rainbow Dash along with Fluttershy.

"Man, I can't believe you kick Chrysalis and her Changelings flanks like they were nothing! plus that sweep kick is bucking sweet! you should teach me your moves sometimes." she paused " My name's Rainbow Dash by the way, fastest flyer in all of Equestria!" she said proudly.

" It is nice to meet you Miss Dash, about that I will think about it." he said while extending his right hand, which Rainbow took and shook.

"Trust me, I am a quick learner. I am also a black-belt in karate."

'Karate? must be a style of martial arts.'

"Then, I am looking forward to teach you my skills." he smiled.

"Aw yeah!" she exclaimed while doing a flip in mid-air.

Then their attention shifted towards Fluttershy, who looked nervous.

"Come on flutters, say hi to Artorias." Rainbow said.

Yet Fluttershy didn't even move.

Seeing this, Artorias took his helmet off.

In an instant, all activities in the room stopped and looked square towards Artorias.

Under the shroud of his helmet, lays a handsome face with crystal blue eyes and well kempt hair. And most of all his face is made of flesh and blood, like that of a pony's.

Everypony in the room watched as Artorias stepped closer to Fluttershy. At this point, Fluttershy has calmed down a lot knowing Artorias was not a beast of the dark trying to gobble her up.

Artorias knelt before her, to make himself less larger and more friendly. Artorias smiled, gave his right hand and spoke in a very soft tone "It's okay , I am not going to hurt you. My name is Artorias, and you are?" this startled everypony in the room.

"M-my n-name is F-Fluttershy." she squeaked while giving her right hoof to Artorias, he took and shook her hoof gently.

'She really is a shy one...she seems very...sensitive. Better be careful around her, or else I'd likely hurt her feelings.' he thought.

With that, he let her hoof go and they smiled at each other briefly.

"Now, I must rehearse my song birds for the wedding's music. If you don't mind that is."

"Of course I don't mind." he said while smiling.

Fluttershy nodded and walked towards her song birds.

With that done, Artorias stood up and smiled triumphantly.

Author's Note

And that was another chapter!

I know this chapter's maybe a bit boring, but it is a crucial aspect for Artorias before he could socialize more.

(This is his current armor condition by the way.)

As usual, if you guys find anything wrong let me know in the comments so I can fix them.

The next chapter's coming up soon, and I will see you in the next one!

-Lightning Spear